Top 10 Scores of the 00’s

Article by Terry Plucknett

Posted - 10/10/09

Go to Top 10 Scores

As much of a music person I am, it takes a lot for me to leave a movie and say, “Wow, that was an amazing score.”  It has happened maybe two dozen times over the last 10 years, only about a dozen of those scores can I still remember a week, a month, or a year later.  This made this list easy to make.  However, the score can make or break a film just as easily as an acting performance, a screenplay, or a special effect.  These are simply the scores that have stood the test of time in my mind as being able to stick with me through the years and remain memorable.

10.  Flags of Our Fathers (Clint Eastwood, 2006).  Throughout this decade, Clint Eastwood definitely emerged as more than just Dirty Harry or The Man With No Name.  He became one of the best working directors we have with us right now.  From Mystic River to Million Dollar Baby to Gran Torino, Eastwood has proven tremendous range as a filmmaker.  One of the greatest aspects of his movies are the scores, which he writes himself.  What is so memorable about a Clint Eastwood score?  It’s the simplicity.  You do not need a full orchestration for a score to make an impact on a movie.  Sometimes all you need is the soft picking of a guitar or a piano playing very simple chords.  Of all of Eastwood’s scores from this decade, Flags of Our Fathers might be my favorite.  Although Letters From Iwo Jima was the better movie of Eastwood’s World War II saga, Flags had the score that stuck with me.  There was something serenely peaceful about the final scene of the movie and closing credits, and it is all thanks to the simple score heard in the background.

9.  Catch Me If You Can (John Williams, 2002).  This might have been the most unique score of the decade, as well as showed the range of one of the greatest composers of any kind of the last 50 years.  John Williams has created such unforgettable scores as Jaws, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones.  However, this time he showed his ability to make a masterpiece out of anything.  The fast moving clicking of the score really draws you into the face-paced, upbeat lifestyle of the main character.  Then when you see that it was a John Williams score, you both are not surprised and impressed even more at the same time.

8.  Batman Begins (James Newton Howard & Hans Zimmer, 2005).  In a decade defined by blockbuster comic book action films, there is one franchise that was arguably the cream of the crop.  Christopher Nolan took the Batman franchise out of the grave Joel Schumacher had buried it in and remade it as a very practical, believable superhero story.  Adding to the darker setting of these films was the brilliant score co-composed by two of the top movie composers out there right now.  This haunting score, also heard in The Dark Knight, set the stage for these landmark films that changed the way we look at superheroes to be made.

7.  WALL-E (Thomas Newman, 2008).  Many will agree that WALL-E is the best animated film of the decade.  Also, animated films (especially Disney films) are known for their amazing music.  With this said, it makes sense that WALL-E would have the best score of all the animated films of the decade and would find a place on this list.  This is actually one score that did not stand out to me right away.  I was too engrossed in the story to notice how much the score was contributing to the atmosphere set.  When I went back and viewed this film again, the score blew me away.  Like I said, it is easy to miss because of how subtle it is and how amazing the story is.  However, it really is an amazing score from an amazing film.

6.  Cast Away (Alan Silvestri, 2000).  Since this film came out at the beginning of the decade, it is easy to forget about this film and its score.  It isn’t easy to forget about because it isn’t any good, but because so many things have stolen the brilliant score from this film so you forget that this is where it originated.  The ultimate test of an amazing score is if other things borrow it and use it for their projects as well.  An example of this would be the trailer for 2005’s Cinderella Man.  Alan Silvestri, who also composed the score for Forrest Gump among many more, wrote a brilliant piece of music that will make your heart break just listening to it.  Combine that with the story of Cast Away and you have a perfect score to compliment a great film.

5.  A Beautiful Mind (James Horner, 2001).  This is one of my favorite films of all time, so it makes sense that the score would end up on this list.  This story of a mathematical genius who begins to lose his valuable asset is accompanied by a score that somehow makes you feel like you are in his fast-paced, beautiful mind.  James Horner (who also composed by favorite score of all time, Apollo 13) finds a balance between fast-paced, action-packed orchestration and a beautifully simple theme.  Listening to the music makes you want to think and solve complex world problems right alongside John Nash.  It not only complements the film, but pulls you in like few scores have the ability to do.

4.  Requiem for a Dream (Clint Mansell, 2000).  Like Cast Away, this is another score you forget came from this film because you have heard it as a part of so many other projects.  This might be the most dramatic, suspense-filled score on this list.  This intense, heavy film is brilliantly augmented and enhanced by one of those intense scores that you don’t want to hear the end of simply because you are afraid of the horror that follow its conclusion.  This film could have easily been given a very melodramatic, sentimental score that would have worked but lessened the effect of the film.  This dramatic score intensifies every negative emotion that brought about by the brilliant story and screenplay.

3.  Atonement (Dario Marianelli, 2007).  This score is just plain fun to look at as a musician.  Never have I heard a score use the noises of the setting so effectively in enhancing the music.  At the beginning of the film, as the children are running about the house, the sound of a typewriter is not only heard, but keeps the time and tempo of the fast-paced music.  When the music needs to get more intense, it is prompted by the intensity of the click-click-click of the typewriter.  When the typewriter abruptly stops typing, the music stops as abruptly.  Not only is it fun musically, but it also points to the point of the story in how everything that happens is seen through the eyes of future-author Briony and recorded in her stories.  This score almost impressed me more than the film did, and the film was very good.

2.  Brokeback Mountain (Gustavo Santaolalla, 2005).  After first viewing this film, not only was I completely blown away by the story told, but I also found myself humming the theme of a score that still stays with me today almost stronger than the incredible story itself.  This simple piece of music gives me chills just thinking about it and captures the peacefulness and serenity that defined what Brokeback Mountain meant to Ennis and Jack.  This score being played over shots of beautiful landscape makes Ang Lee’s film one of the most beautifully set films of the decade.  I can’t help but hum that simple theme to myself while I write this.

1.  Pan’s Labyrinth (Javier Navarrete, 2006).  I was not the biggest fan of this film when I saw it.  It was good, but not monumental like some would say.  With that said, I have never been absolutely haunted by a score quite like the simple lullaby at the heart of the music of Pan’s Labyrinth.  Once again, the beauty is in the simplicity.  A sweet lullaby is introduced to the film as it is sung to the main character.  This simple line becomes the theme to an extravagant orchestration that continues to build throughout the film.  You can almost hear the development and creation of the score throughout the film.  It starts with a single voice singing the melody, which is followed by strings repeating the line.  From there, more layers are added each time the theme returns until the final dramatic sequence when this simple lullaby becomes the mass orchestration needed to accompany the climax of the film.  Just a beautiful piece of music used perfectly throughout the film.  For me, this makes the greatest and most memorable score of this decade.